Something about his son's tone annoyed Genma. "Are you complaining, boy? It isn't like we have to even swim to China."
"Why would I be bothered?"
"What? But...."
"I was just tryin' ta figure out how long it was gonna take us," the teenaged boy replied, and gave a sizable snort. "Ain't like we'd be good goin' and ignorin' the fact that we'd actually haveta look for the place. Or were ya just plannin' on walkin' and just stumblin' onta your friend's house?"
"Well... I...."
"Didn't think so. C'mon, Rei."
There wasn't even an ounce of resistance in Rei as she followed in her Master's wake, although she didn't go quite as fast as she might have done at another time.
"What's going...." the elder Saotome male trailed off, watching his son and the slavegirl start walking. And then he yelped as he realized that they were leaving him behind. "HEY! Get back here! I am supposed to lead the two of you!"
From her position on the roof, Nabiki watched as her elder sister seemed to blur as she leapt away from their home. However, as much as she wanted to watch Taki's path, that proved to be rather difficult, as the ninja didn't need much in the way of tricks to get out sight. She was certainly fast enough, and she knew just how to get the most out of a run.
Of course, had she been planning to solely watch the elder girl's movements, she wouldn't have chosen to do so from where she was. As much as being on top of the house gave her a good view, she wasn't on the proper place on it to keep a total eye on her sibling. But then, that hadn't been the point.
Instead, she watched as Shampoo and Akane took off in their own directions as she waited behind. If she thought of them in militaristic terms, it was like the former was a jet fighter, and the latter was a helicopter gunship, both with their own strengths to bring to their 'missions'. And to tell the truth, this was a 'mission' of sorts.
"Alright now," Nabiki said into the microphone that hung off the headset that she was wearing. "Everyone know their part?"
"Of course," Taki confirmed. "We trained in mock situations that were a lot like this."
A mild snort came over the walkie talkie, and Nabiki could almost see that odd little near-smile that Akane had from time to time. "We aren't exactly stupid enough to forget that easily."
"Shampoo just want to know when sisters realize that making noise not help when trying to be silent," came the Amazon slavegirl's voice.
"Okay, so you have a point there."
"So, now that we've just pointed out that we know what we're doing, not that we had to, let's get on with it," Nabiki told the 'search party'.
"What I'd like to know is why I am here," Asuka grumbled, twisting her mouth in a show of annoyance.
"Other than to keep me company?"
"I think that you and your closed in little hiding box are set up enough here."
The brunette gave a small nod of acceptance. "There is that. But there is something important to keep in mind."
"And that is...."
"We have no idea of where our soon to be new master is at the moment. For all we know, they could already be within the space we're looking out from."
"And that makes me have to stay up here?" the redhead asked, warily eyeing the elder girl as she lay in what looked almost like a crate.
"That's exactly it. Kasumi is downstairs in the house, getting ready, and waiting for his arrival. Now, if we find him, or if he comes into the house without us noticing, we need someone to pass a message between us and her. Which is your responsibility."
"Oh."
"All in the name of spotting our new master on his way here, sis. Remember, if we can spy on him before he arrives at the house, we'll be able to get some idea of what we should expect from him."
"Just one thing?"
"Yes?" the elder girl murmured.
"You know this won't stop us from becoming his property, you know."
"True. But at least we can get a chance to see what we'll belong to."
Asuka gave a small shrug, and stared out at the sea of houses that made up their neighborhood, while:
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(Posted Wed, 14 Nov 2007 16:07)
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